The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
LIVE DISCUSSION: Lust For Forgiveness (Part 1 of 5)
Justification by faith stands as the cornerstone of Christian doctrine, yet throughout history, believers have struggled with the temptation to add works to grace. This powerful exposition of Galatians reveals why any admixture of legality fundamentally corrupts the gospel message.
The apostle Paul confronted the Galatian believers who had been deceived by Judaizers into thinking they could embrace justification by faith while still requiring circumcision. This critical error reflects humanity's innate tendency to want law integrated with grace—a combination that, once mixed, is no longer grace at all. Through careful examination of Paul's arguments, we discover why this matters so profoundly for our understanding of salvation.
Many misunderstand God's fairness, believing that election somehow violates divine justice. Yet the truth revealed in Galatians offers a more profound perspective: if God were merely "fair," all humanity would face eternal condemnation. Divine grace operates outside these parameters, not by eliminating justice but by satisfying it through Christ's substitutionary atonement. For believers, Christ bore the wrath they deserved, standing in their place as the perfect sacrifice. This distinction between walking in the Spirit versus remaining under law permeates Paul's message, showing why these two paths cannot be merged. The works of the flesh—whether sensual sins like adultery and fornication or religious sins like idolatry—reveal our desperate need for grace alone.
What does this theological understanding mean for your daily walk with Christ? When we truly grasp our natural state of sin and God's magnificent grace, it produces genuine humility and reverence. This fear of the Lord—a profound awe at His holiness and mercy—transforms how we approach both God and others. Have you allowed legalism to creep into your understanding of salvation? Return to the pure gospel of grace and experience the freedom Christ died to give you.
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Christians. Good evening, I hope you're having a good Friday. Tonight we're going to continue our discussion, or I should say our exposition, through the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians, and we're dealing with this issue of polluting the gospel by adding into it legality, leg into it legality. Legality cannot be integrated on any level. There's no number of egalities that can be included into justification by faith, which is what the gospel is all about.
Speaker 1:Justification by faith, apart from any works, of any law. This is what the apostle Paul was making clear in this book, in his letter or his epistle to the Galatians. They had been led to believe by the Judaizers that it was okay for them To embrace Justification by faith so long as they did not include. So long as they did include, I should say, the necessity, the necessity so long as they did include, I should say the necessity of circumcision. Now, man has a inborn proclivity to want to have law integrated into grace and I have to say, once you integrate anything or add any admixture into grace, it is therefore no longer grace. Anything or add any admixture into grace, it is therefore no longer grace. I really wish the Christian community at large could lay hold of this very simple concept, which is not merely a concept, but it is a biblical truth. A biblical truth the book of Galatians, paul, breaks down the most simplest of things that Christian obedience can ever warrant, which is that all you need to do is to believe by faith and you will be justified by that very same faith. What do we mean by justified? It encompasses many things, but it means that you are no longer guilty of your sins against God the judge. It means that you have reconciliation with God the judge, which means that you have peace with God the judge. And all these things happen because of the blood shed by the son of God, who made an atonement for those of us who were elected in God the father to be saved, those who were elected from before the foundation of the world to be saved. Those who were elected from before the foundation of the world to be saved will believe, they will come to faith, and none of those of whom or for whom Christ shed his blood shall be left behind. There is not one single soul, not one single soul, not one single soul Whom Jesus shed his blood for who will find their names On the roster of the eternally damned. Not one.
Speaker 1:Now the world has this perspective of God, that has within its perspective, this false idea of fairness, of fairness Notice what I said A false idea Of awareness Of fairness. Here's the reality. When we talk about the subject matter Of failure or fairness, I should say I'm'm sorry. Here's what we need to understand. If god were to judge, if god were to exact what he would based on fairness, every single person in mankind would be condemned. If God were to exact fairness, every single soul would be condemned to hell forever. That's if God were fair. So if you ask or if you suggest that God is a God who exhibits and exacts fairness, that's what you would be asking for.
Speaker 1:But the wrong idea Christians, my brethren in Christ, the wrong idea is abusing the notion of fairness and making it a violation of God's fairness. On the part of God should he decide to impart grace to those who deserve hell. This is the problem. Fairness is if everybody is condemned to hell. Fairness is if everybody is condemned to hell. Grace, the grace of God, which comes by way of justification by faith, stands outside. It stands outside of the parameters of God's fairness. But here's the thing it doesn't alleviate God's fairness If God saves some by faith, by justification by election. If he saves some, it does not disturb his fairness at all. Because, remember, if God is fair, christians, my brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to me If God is fair, all men must be condemned. But if God imparts grace to any, which means that he grants them salvation, apart from any merited favor, that does not disturb his fairness. And here's the reason why Because the only way that God can really be fair is if he punishes everyone for their sins. So God is fair. But here is where. Here is where we have come.
Speaker 1:So many of us have come to misunderstand what his fairness is all about. They think that because those who abuse in their understanding, those who abuse in their understanding what the fairness of God means is, they say that if God elects any to salvation, if God has a chosen, elect group of people that he has chosen to be saved for salvation and gives them grace and faith, he helps them. They think somehow that undermines fairness. But it doesn't. And here's the reason why Because the condemnation that they deserve, the condemnation that all of the elect souls in Christ, that they deserve, the condemnation that they all deserve was dealt. That dreadful blow of eternal condemnation must hit upon every single man.
Speaker 1:But there's one difference the Lord Jesus Christ himself took on the wrath of God upon himself for those whom the Father elected from before the foundation of the world to be saved, justified and glorified in Christ. The fairness that God owes man, which is justice, was paid for all man. Some people will stand in their own place in their own defense, but the elect of God will stand before the presence of God, because Jesus Christ took upon himself the wrath they were due. So no one escapes the justice of God, the believer, those who are elect in Christ. These folks are different from the standpoint that Christ took upon himself their wrath, the wrath that God owed them. He put on his son on their behalf, so that wrath came upon all, to the uttermost, only those who were elected and chosen in God to be justified by faith. They had someone go in their place, a suitable sacrifice, a suitable offering that God would accept. And he, being the judge, has the prerogative to acceptable worship, and we are, to acceptable sacrifice, and we know what that acceptable sacrifice is Perfection, absolute purity. And so the spotless lamb of God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was he who bore upon his person the sin of every one of those for whom, for whom he died. And he did not die for everyone. His blood did not cover everyone. Every single person did not receive a righteous robe, and this is the hardest part for most of Christianity to believe, and there's only a small group of people who will believe it and understand it that that was a long preamble to Galatians 5, which is where we are today.
Speaker 1:Galatians 5, we're dealing with a continuation of this theme that we've been discussing regarding justification by faith, apart from any works of any law. In Galatians 2, verse 16, the apostle says Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ in order that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. And notice, we are justified by the faith of Christ. Now, when you read this at first glance, some of us don't really realize the full import of what is being said. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, he being the object of our faith. We believe that what he has done is effectual in our redemption, between us and the father. That's what we believe. We believe. We believe that Christ satisfied the due requirement for the penal retribution we deserve the father accepted from his son for those whom he gave his son to redeem and to ransom.
Speaker 1:This is something that only true believers can glean and understand. This is something that the world cannot understand and in the world we need to understand that there are many folks that the world cannot understand and in the world we need to understand that there are many folks in the world who call themselves Christians and they are not. They don't belong to the church, they belong to the synagogue of Satan, plain and simple. Paul says. He continues that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. These are two opposing concepts, two opposing concepts. You are either justified by the faith of Christ or you are justified by the works of the law. Take your pick. But only one will actually redeem, only one actually results in glorification, only one results in justification, and that is the faith of Christ, for by the works of the law Shall no flesh Be justified. And this is what the heart Of the book of Galatians is about, and this is at the heart of the book of Galatians is about, and this is at the very root of what salvation is all about. That's what it's all about Tonight.
Speaker 1:I want to continue where we left off in Galatians 5, where we left off in Galatians 5, where we spoke about what it means to walk in the Spirit. But in order to walk in the Spirit, you need to understand what you're walking away from. And what are you walking away from? You're walking away from the works of the flesh, which are produced by trying to keep the law for salvation, and it says that those of us who are led by the Spirit are not under the law, which means that those who are under the law are not being led by the Holy Spirit. The two do not co-mingle. They absolutely do not co-mingle on any level. You are saved by one or the other If you are led by the Spirit. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Speaker 1:And yet many people, as we see even in this book of Galatians, which is how it began, paul chastises the Galatians for succumbing to the Judaizer mentality that it is okay to be justified by faith through grace, so long as you include circumcision, a work of the law, in that element of what you're calling justification by faith. Paul says no, you cannot do that. You have one or the other, you cannot straddle both sides, you cannot play both sides, and this is what they were attempting to do. So we discussed in Galatians 5, 19,. It says what the works of the flesh are, and Paul says that the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these Last evening we discussed adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, and we talked about what these were.
Speaker 1:I pointed out that fornication in Greek, here in Galatians 5.19, comes from the word from which we get the word pornography pornography. This is what fornication is. Adultery, having sex, copulating with someone who is not your spouse. This is what this is. We talked about divorce and I tried to explain how there is no grounds for divorce for someone who is married, not in God's eyes. We pointed out that divorce was something that took place between engaged persons, people who were engaged to be married and even though they had not copulated, even though they had not had their ceremonial right, that completed or consummated the marriage, the engagement. In God's eyes, that is what constituted the marriage, the engagement, and that was the only phase in the marriage whereby Moses was allowed to give people a writing of divorcement, and that was because of sin, allowed to give people a writing of divorcement, and that was because of sin. So no one who claims that the Bible gives them a right or an out to a divorce on the grounds of adultery is justified in a divorce. Let me say this again If you are married, marriage has been consummated. You had the celebration, the ceremonial, you presented yourselves before the witnesses as a married couple. You made the vow, openly and publicly, to God, that you are with this person, bound and forever, and are one. There is no grounds, there is no exception whereby you can use to justify a divorce. Divorce is what happens.
Speaker 1:Prior to that point, during the engagement, we talked about this. I will ask this question. My sister asked what about adultery of a spouse? Let me put it to you this way Many Christians champion this idea of Even people who are not Christians. When they want to rationalize divorce, they will say can't I get a divorce if my spouse committed adultery? No, no, no, no, no Cannot be done. But let me ask you this question. But let me ask you this question If you feel justified in getting a divorce for your adultery, would not Christ be justified in divorcing you for your adultery against him, you cannot have your cake at 82.
Speaker 1:We established last night that one of the things that we learned in this understanding of divorce, one of the things that we learned is this God's hatred to divorce should tell you something great about the Father, about God, and what is that that it tells us? It tells us that he would never divorce us. But if you are seeking a divorce, if you are seeking a divorce, then you should be ready to accept that it will be good on the part of God if he divorced you, because you and me, we commit adultery to our Lord and Savior. Every single day. Every single day, we commit adultery against our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Every one of us, every day, we are like meandering, wandering harlots, can't wait to mess up and to frustrate this grace that God has been so amazing at giving. Listen, listen anyway.
Speaker 1:Verse 19. The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness. I expanded on Adultery, fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness. I expanded on uncleanness and lasciviousness because what these two things do, uncleanness and lasciviousness, they take adultery, they take fornication and they take those things and they take it to another level when they are bored with adultery, when they become bored with fornication, they take it to another level. They have to find greedier ways to satisfy this sickening appetite.
Speaker 1:And that's what uncleanness is and lasciviousness is. It is taking the wickedness of sensual sins to the next level, whatever they may be for you. But there's always another level that you take it to. And I mentioned pedophilia, I mentioned bestiality, I mentioned incest. All these things, all these things. And this is just the bottom of the barrel, or I should say the top of the barrel, just the bottom of the barrel, or I should say the top of the barrel. The bottom of the barrel gets even filthier. But that's what uncleanness is. It is taking an already egregious sin and making them even filthier than they are on the surface, than they are on the surface. And lasciviousness includes a wantonness, a laziness in it, to where even it becomes something that is casual, a desperate, vicious, sickening uncleanness. Lasciviousness takes us to even a higher level and makes you comfortable in it. Some people may try to go and rationalize these things any kind of way they want to. All I can do is tell you the truth and then challenge you to see if I'm wrong or not.
Speaker 1:So now we're going to move on to the next two things in verse 20 of Galatians 5. In verse 19, we dealt with sensual sins. Sensual sins. Next we're going to move on to religious sins, and there are two stated here Idolatry and witchcraft. Idolatry and witchcraft. Idolatry and witchcraft. But before I proceed, I know my little Monologue or preamble, was longer than normal, but I felt it was needed to do, it was needed. So before I begin to deal with adultery I mean, I'm sorry Idolatry and witchcraft I want to reach out to the brethren that I have here on the panel and get your opening remarks and comments, brother Jeffrey, man of God, what's your thoughts so far?
Speaker 3:Oh, so far, I mean, you've done a great job of emphasizing the depravity that man can fall into. I mean, you know anybody who doesn't believe in the total depravity of man? Just look at that list and I mean, you know, most of us don't even want to think about it. But it's true, those are works of the flesh. But it's true, those are works of the flesh, not our body, not our soul, but of the flesh of the part of us that we inherited after Adam and Eve fell our sin nature. And you know, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, it makes you ashamed to even be hearing about it. It's shameful. And, uh, you know, for God to.
Speaker 3:You know that was a good thing for me. You know, yeah, I, I've always believed that, unfortunately, in my relationships I didn't always have a choice. Uh, in fact, in the current one that I'm leaving, I left because I couldn't stand being berated every day, but I didn't file she's filing. I'm not saying that makes me feel better, but it's certainly. It's just one of those things that, when you think about it, I've never thought about God divorcing us in that sense and that really makes you, gives you food for thought.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, brother. Everybody does Sister Evie. Welcome, sister, your opening thoughts.
Speaker 4:Good evening everyone. So he hit it right, brother Jeffrey, hit it right on the nose. Like People have to understand that the word of God teaches us that every part of us, the core of our nature, is fallen and so we're tainted by sin. And so it even talks about, like our goods being as filthy rags as we know.
Speaker 4:And I think that that's hard, that's a really hard concept for some to understand, when they don't understand, like in their finite little minds, to say God, and others don't like to hear it and they don't like these platforms and conversations, and you'll see the numbers go up and then the numbers go down because they really don't want to see this amazing God. And I don't understand how they don't see him as being so miraculous, because he's completely outside of our time. He sees everything way before we even seen it, and his the end is love. So we have nothing to fear. And so until you come to this great concept of who you are in your natural state of sin, how you were hostile to him, you won't be able to see the beauty in it.
Speaker 4:And it's something that there's a stage cage I think that people go through and they fight with this, you know in their minds and it's difficult for them and I know that I was one I'm not going to sit here and say you know, the first time that I started to read these kinds of things, I was amazed, you know, but at the same time I cried, because I think that it brings us to a place of like brokenness too, to remain humble. I say that a lot. You know, I'm humbled. There's a humility that I have that I can't shake because of understanding this Holy God.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I don't see what you mean, meg, sister, meg, go ahead, open your remarks. You there, meg. All right, let's try her again later. Brother Michael, you there Can y'all hear me?
Speaker 2:I hear you now, go ahead. Go ahead, meg Michael, come back to you next. Oh, I apologize, sorry, my phone was doing something crazy. No, when you hear these scriptures, to me I think that it should put back you know something that I think that the body of Christ is really lacking, and that's the fear of the Lord, and there's this awe and reverence, you knowence, that we have for him, and to me, even hearing that it puts it reminds me very simply, like